Today we’d like to introduce you to Tammy Kling.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Tammy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I believe every human should make an impact. Some don’t until their experiences define them to take action.
My father committed suicide when I was 7.
15 years ago I began working with the homeless on the streets and under bridges teaching a workshop called The Conversation, in shelters, out of a desire to help men overcome their setbacks.
In my TEDx talk, I say – Words are Currency.
What does this mean?
Men become homeless for a couple of reasons. One is abandonment or lack of father figure. Another is inability to overcome depression after job loss or relationship breakup. I wanted to help change families and generations.
I began my book company with that sole mission. I can’t reach trillions but if I equip one extraordinary human to reach 1 million people on stages, and through their books, I can. 1000 people x 1
Million books sold is a trillion. I’ve written thousands of books, and we’ve grown a lot in 15 years.
I had a deep desire to use words to change lives.
We equip world changers. It’s the heart of everything we do, and it’s also our company tagline and mission statement.
I never knew I’d be an entrepreneur running a multi-million dollar company. The Conversation is now launching globally. It’s expanded to specific smaller groups too. One of The Conversation for Men’s groups has a net worth of $2.8 billion with just 15 men, but they didn’t even talk about business! Some cried, One was navigating addiction and another a bad marriage.
We have tech industry conversations. We have one in France and one in Australia in 2019. The one in Dallas is outside, by campfires and is limited to 100. You may be sitting by a celebrity and a homeless man. As I looked over the ranch with the campfires burning and the entrepreneurs who had flown in from all over the country, I choked up and realized my dad did have a legacy. His selfishness or his pain or whatever you want to call it has a profound generational impact.
Men and women – strangers – having face to face conversations in the dark about wisdom, legacy, and blind spots.
Whether it’s in books or equipping CEOs or a world changer speaker, this is what matters to me. Let’s be impactpreneurs. Your words truly can save a life and ignite a business.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No matter what career path you choose, this one thing will help you lead the pack. You must be willing to stay up all night to fight for your dream. I have discovered that it’s not possible to do extraordinary things, in the timeframe of an ordinary day. This is a secret that I have learned from being an entrepreneur, and also working with CEO’s and world leaders.
Hard work means you will be awake working on your projects when everyone else is asleep. There have always been obstacles, and in one point early on I wanted to give up. But I met an entrepreneur and had a conversation that changed my perspective.
We’d love to hear more about OnFire Books.
OnFire Books has been featured in a lot of different media for our expertise creating and selling big books. However, I’m most proud of our culture of world changers. We are the only book company in the world that has a homeless writers division, we also have a social entrepreneurship program where our authors, clients, CEO’s, and OnFire Books team members, build libraries in orphanages. We just built an incredible hang out for kids with unlimited books, bookshelves, games, and bean bag chairs. But we also have Mobile book libraries to cities across America for the homeless.
Finding a mentor and building a network are often cited in studies as a major factor impacting one’s success. Do you have any advice or lessons to share regarding finding a mentor or networking in general?
Everyone needs a Life Team. This concept is what we teach at The Conversation. A Life Team is more than a mentor. Throughout your life, you will have a mentor, but then you outgrow them. This is a natural progression. It’s my goal that we will teach millions of parents and leaders how to build a Life Team with twelve significant mentors in several modalities.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onfirebooks.com
- Phone: 214 914 8848
- Email: tammy@onfirebooks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.kling/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyKlingspeaker/
Image Credit:
Reed Foster Photography
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